The Angel from Grass
by dthegrimm
Summary: AU One-shot. What if Naruto saved Karin during the Chunin Exams instead of Sasuke? Naruto/Karin


**Naruto: The Angel from Grass**

Rays of sunlight filtered into the bedroom and eventually found their way onto 18-year old Naruto Uzumaki's face. The result was fairly academic.

"Damn sun." The blonde grumbled to himself as he turned away from the sunlight so he could attempt to get a little more sleep. But alas, it was not to be. Once Naruto was awake, he was going to stay awake for a while.

Groaning, the blonde teenager reluctantly got out of his warm bed. Dressed in black sweatpants and an old grey shirt, Naruto made his way towards the kitchen for breakfast, but not before he opened one of the dresser drawers in his bedroom and pulled out a small box. As he got closer, he could smell fresh cinnamon rolls right out of the oven.

"Well, look who's up." Said a sexy female voice as Naruto entered the kitchen. The blonde grinned as he saw one of the most glorious sights he had ever seen. Standing in the kitchen was his beautiful wife. Dressed in a large black t-shirt that came down to her naval and a pair of black see-through panties, she traced her finger on top of one of the steaming rolls, getting some of the sugary frosting on her finger and then licked it clean.

"I was just about to come and get you." She said as she wrapped her arms around Naruto in a loving embrace.

"Unfortunately, the sun beat you to it, Karin." Naruto said as he caressed his wife's back.

The bespectacled redhead looked up at her husband with nothing short of love in her ruby red eyes. Karin kissed him on the lips before reluctantly separating herself from his embrace. "I thought we might try something different for breakfast." The former Grass Kunoichi said as she picked up the plate of cinnamon rolls and brought them to the dining table.

The young couple sat down and each took a roll. "Before we eat, I need you to close your eyes." Naruto told the redhead.

"What is it?" Karin asked.

"You'll see, just close your eyes." Naruto replied. Karin closed her eyes. Naruto got up out of his chair and pulled out the small box. Inside was a small white gold pentagram with a small ruby in the center. It was attached to a gold chain. The blonde jinchuriki fastened the chain around Karin's neck. "Okay. You can open your eyes now."

Karin did so and looked down at the beautiful pentagram and chain around her neck and gasped.

"Happy anniversary Karin." Naruto said with a smile.

"But honey. Our wedding anniversary isn't for another few months." Karin said, slightly confused.

"I know, but today is our _other_ anniversary. The anniversary of when we first met." Naruto explained. Realization dawned on Karin's face as she smiled at her husband.

"Remember that day, Karin?" Naruto asked.

"Of course I do, silly. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here." Karin replied.

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Six years ago – Forest of Death, second stage of the Chunin Exam.

Naruto Uzumaki was having a bad day, and considering most his days were fairly lousy, that was saying something. He was currently in the middle of Stage Two of the Chunin Exam, which meant he was making his way through the Forest of Death.

"Oh boy. Could this day get any better?" Naruto said to himself as he flicked some bits of snake skin and slime from his shoulder. He had just freed himself from the belly of a giant snake that tried to eat him after he had got separated from his team. Thank god for Shadow Clones. But now he was faced with a new dilemma: finding his team in the vast Forest of Death.

Just as the blonde Jinchuriki was about to jump up into the trees, he heard murderous roar that sounded like a hungry bear…followed by a scream that undoubtedly sounded like a girl…or a very sissified guy. Whatever it was, it was very close by.

"To the left." Naruto said as he set off in that direction. After a few minutes of tree hopping, the blonde Genin entered a clearing and saw the source of the sounds.

Backed up against a tree was a girl. A redhead to be exact with glasses dressed in a long sleeve dark green shirt, black shorts and knee high black socks and ninja sandals. And not ten feet away from said girl was a bear the size of a two story building and it looked and sounded pissed…and hungry.

"_Jeez, what the hell do they feed the animals around here? Growth hormones mixed with steroids?"_ Naruto thought to himself as he drew a kunai dagger from his pouch.

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Just when Karin Akaryu thought her day couldn't possibly get worse, it got worse. First, her so-called 'teammates' thought it would be cute to abandon her to a group of flying leeches. Thankfully, Karin was able to escape using her chakra whip, but her teammates were not as lucky. _"Karma's a bitch, isn't it boys."_ Karin thought as she watched the two Grass ninjas writhe in agony as the leeches sucked them dry. She still had the scroll that her team was given at the beginning of the exam, the Earth scroll. Karin figured that she could possibly trade it in exchange for her safety.

But apparently, fate was not feeling very kind towards the bespectacled redhead as not five minutes later, she was face to face with a bear the size of a house. _"Oh swell."_

So now, here she was. Backed up against a tree and about to become a meal for Winnie the Pooh on crack. _"The perfect end to a crappy life."_ Karin thought as the bear got closer. All her life, she had been made fun of because people thought that she was a nerd, they thought she was weak and wasn't as pretty as the other girls. The only reason most people wanted anything to do with her was the fact that she was smart and she could help them study for academy exams. However once the exams were over, they would dump her like a bad habit.

"Just once, I would've like for someone to just like me for me." Karin said as she closed her eyes and felt tears run down her cheeks, waiting for the end to come and hoping it wouldn't be too painful.

"Hey, Yogi Bear! Your mother's a ratty old throw rug that reeks of mothballs." A voice yelled from behind the bear. Karin opened her red eyes to see that the bear was turning around to face a boy around her age. He had blonde hair, blue eyes and what appeared to be whisker marks on his cheeks. He was also dressed in quite possibly the most horrendous-looking outfit she had ever seen. _"Okay, that's __**WAY **__too much orange right there."_ Karin thought to herself before the situation caught back up to her.

The bear growled as its attention was turned from Karin to the boy for the moment. The redhead noticed that the blonde boy was armed with a kunai dagger.

"Yeah yeah. Growl and snarl to you too, honey breath." The boy said to the giant carnivore before he spared a glance at Karin. "Hey you! Once that thing moves towards me, run for it!"

Karin was about to say something, but the words died in her thought as all she could do was nod.

"Come on, gruesome. Right this way!" The blonde kid said as he threw the kunai at the bear, which hit the creature in the chest. The bear roared in pain as it stalked towards its new target. Karin took this as her cue to move. The redheaded Grass kunoichi relocated to a thick branch of a tree to oversee the action.

If the orange clad boy was nervous, he didn't show it. How, Karin had no idea. She was ready to piss her pants when the bear first saw her. She then focused on the boy and used to sensing ability to gauge him. What she found was shocking to say the least.

"_What the? How is this possible? This guy has more chakra than most Jonin combined."_ Karin thought as she saw the kid make a cross-like hand sign.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The orange-clad blonde called out. And with that, five exact duplicates of the young man suddenly appeared, much to Karin's surprise.

_"He can do the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"_ The bespectacled Grass girl thought in amazement. _"But that's a high rank jutsu that even some Jonin have trouble with. How the hell could he do it?"_

The blonde boy and his clones surrounded the bear, which only seemed to anger the giant monster even more. It tried to swipe at one of the clones, but he avoided it rather easily. The bear may have had size and power, but it was no match for the speed of the blonde kid and his clones.

"Time for you to hibernate, permanently." The kid said as he and the clones each threw kunai at the bear. Karin noticed that each of the kunai were sparkling. That only meant one thing. "_Explosive tags_!" Karin thought.

But before any of the bombs could go off, the bear swiped at one of the boys. This time, the bear got lucky and sent the one he hit flying into the tree Karin was hiding in. Upon impact, the other five blonde boys vanished in puffs of smoke, meaning that the bear just knocked the real one for one hell of a loop.

The last thing Karin heard before the boy lost consciousness was one word. "Boom."

Not a moment later, a huge explosion occurred, vaporizing the giant bear in a blast of heat and smoke. All that was left of the creature was some charred fur and some miscellaneous gore that dotted the clearing.

Karin looked down to see that her savior landed in a crumpled head at the base of the tree. Ironically enough, it was the exact same spot she was in when the bear cornered her. The redhead jumped down and landed in front of the young man who saved her. She knelled down in front of him and for the first time, truly got a good look at him.

He was definitely around her age, give or take a year. On top of her previous observations of his appearance, she could add in which village he belonged to. On his head was a blue headband with a spiral leaf symbol on it, indicating he was a Konoha genin. Other than his horrendous taste in clothing, he was a very handsome guy. Not the bishonen-type handsome like she preferred, but handsome in a regular-kind of guy-like way.

She saw the hit he took from the bear. Karin would be willing to guess that he probably shattered a rib or two.

_"The least I can do for him is heal him as best I can."_ The redhead thought to herself, thankful for the fact that she excelled in her medical studies. "Please don't die. Please." Karin said in a pleading tone as green chakra coated her hand. "I don't want to be alone anymore." She said sadly, more to herself than the young man before her.

Karin put her hands on the blonde boy's chest and started to apply healing chakra. After a few moments, Karin heard a snapping noise that brought her out of her own little world. At first, the bespectacled kunoichi thought someone was nearby, until she heard the kid groan a little. It was then that she realized **he** was making the snapping sounds…or rather it was his **bones** that were snapping. Whether they were snapping apart or back together, Karin didn't know.

After a few more sick snapping sounds, the blonde boy opened his blue eyes and groaned in slight pain. "Ugh. Damn! First I get eaten by a snake then I get sucker punched by a bear. What's next?" He said. It was then that he noticed Karin. "Oh great, I'm dead."

"Huh? What do you mean? You're not dead." Karin blinked.

"Really?" The kid replied. "Then why am I face to face with an angel?"

Karin blushed slightly. She had heard cornier pick-up lines from some of the guys she thought liked her back in the Grass Village. _"At least he's honest…at least I think he is."_ She thought.

"You get points for originality. That's the first time someone called me an angel." Karin said, smiling a little.

The blonde to talk again until a sudden pop could be heard. "Are you alright?" Karin asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, ribs are just snapping back together, that's all." The blonde said as if it were a normal part of a conversation.

"That's all?" Karin almost yelled. "You just took a haymaker from Yogi Bear on crack! By all rights, you should be a smear right now!" That was when the bespectacled girl blinked. "Wait a second, how are you still alive? Some kind of Kekkei Genkai?" She asked.

"Umm, something like that, yeah." The boy replied. Karin nodded as she continued to pour the healing chakra into him.

"Just hold still. Every little bit helps you know." Karin said.

"Thanks. Are you alright?" The blonde asked.

"Hmm?" Karin looked at him.

"Did the bear hurt you?"

"Oh, n-no. I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Karin said as she continued healing. The blush on her face matched her hair and eyes.

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Naruto just sat still while the redhead kept healing her. He could feel the fox's chakra healing his injuries and the girl's healing chakra only sped up the process.

He just looked at her as she did her work. Judging from the headband she wore on her head, she was from the Village Hidden in the Grass, a neutral ninja village that wasn't an enemy of the Leaf, but they weren't exactly allies either.

"My name's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. What's yours?"

The girl looked at him with her ruby red eyes from behind her glasses. If anything, the glasses actually made her appear more attractive and they made her seem very smart.

"Karin Akaryu." She answered

"Nice to meet you and thanks for the healing." Naruto said.

"Don't mention it." Karin said as Naruto started to get up. "Hey, take it easy. Kekkei Genkai or not, you still took one hell of a hit back there."

Naruto leaned against the tree for support. Karin put his free arm across her shoulder and kept him balanced. "Thank you." He said. "So, where's your team? The least I can do is make sure you get back to them safely."

Karin looked downward. "My team is dead." She said, saying the word 'team' with a fair amount of venom. "They thought my only use was to be used as bait for enemy Genin and the beasts that roam this forest…at least they did until those leech things made a meal out of them."

The bespectacled redhead gave Naruto an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. You probably don't want to hear about my problems."

"Oh it's no problem. Trust me, it's not healthy to keep things bottled up. If you want to talk about whatever's bugging you, I'll lend my ears." Naruto said in a sincere tone. Karin looked at him and she, for the life of her, could not see a trace of a lie in his blue eyes. "Let me guess, people looked down on you because you were different from everyone else. Some pretended to be your friend, at least as long as it suited their purposes."

Karin's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto kept talking. "I know that because I can see it in your eyes. I had the same look in my eyes growing up. Still do from time to time."

After taking a breath, Karin started talking herself. "Growing up in Grass, I was always singled out as a geek or a nerd because of my glasses and the fact that I was smarter than most people. Whenever one of the more popular kids or a guy that I thought I liked would come up to me and ask for my help in the Grass Academy, they would be friendly towards me for a while… until they passed whatever subject they needed help in. After that, they avoided me like the plague, saying that they wouldn't be caught dead with a weak loser like me." Tears were starting to form in her eyes as she kept going. "They have no idea what it's like to be alone." She then looked at Naruto apologetically again. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound so negative." The redhead looked down at the ground in shame, fearing that she may have offended the guy who saved her life.

Karin was surprised to feel fingers under her chin that gently lifted her head so that she was looking once again into those deep blue eyes that were filled with nothing but compassion and understanding.

"Like I said, I've know what it's like. I've never known my parents and a lot of people treated me like I had a case of Ebola." Karin looked surprised once again. "That's why I push myself to prove everyone who has ever looked down on me wrong. I made a promise to myself to earn the respect of everyone, whether they like me or not. And I never go back on my promises."

Before Karin could say anything else, Naruto continued. "And don't say you look like a nerd because of your glasses. If anything, I think they make you look really cute."

Karin blushed yet again and smiled at her blonde savior. "Thanks."

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Ever since that day, there was hardly a time when Naruto and Karin were seen separate from each other. With her team from the Chunin Exam dead, Karin filed for residency in the Leaf Village. Since the Leaf and Grass Villages were on fairly friendly terms, it wasn't too hard for Karin to become a legal member of the Leaf Shinobi.

During her time, the bespectacled redhead had flourished as a highly competent medic. When Tsunade became the Hokage, Karin studied under her and further increased her skills. After Sasuke left to join Orochimaru, Karin filled the vacant spot that the Uchiha left in Squad Seven, much to Sakura's chagrin, but both Karin and Naruto could care less what she thought of it.

Eventually, the blonde and the redhead were married, which brought them to the present.

Karin smiled innocently at her husband as she got up out of her seat and walked up beside him. She looked down at him and started to talk. "I was going to wait to tell you a little later, but since this is a special occasion, now is as good a time as any."

"And what would that be?" Naruto said.

"Your anniversary present." Karin replied as she took Naruto's hand and gently placed it on her stomach. "Granted, you'll be getting it in about nine months, but, you know."

Naruto lifted Karin's shirt up a little and kissed her belly. He then got up and kissed his wife on her lips. "Can you imagine what would happen if you and I never met?" The blonde asked the redhead.

"I shudder to think." Karin said. "For all we know, I could have wound up like one of the Uchiha's fan girls."


End file.
